Machine for backing books



WILLIAM LAIGHTON, OF PORTSMOUTH, NEI/V HAMPSHIRE.

MACHINE FOR BACKNG- BOOKS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 3,880, dated January 10, `181.1!5.

the following is` a full and `exact description thereof.

The operation of backing consists in giv ing that roundness, orconvexity, to the back of `the book which is necessary to prepare it forthe reception of `the covering of leather, or` other material. Thisprocessis usually performed by confining the book, after it has beenstitched and cut, between suitable boards, `or plates of metal, whichare pressed firmly together by means of screws, andthe ,back is thenhammered lnto the desired form. In my machine, the book to be backed isconfined between two platesf or jaws, of iron which are made to clasp it`firmly, as between the jaws of a fvise; and. these plates are soarranged as when closed to constitute a carriage, which, by means. of a.rack and pinion, is movedon in ai straight line, so as to bring `theback of the; book against a roller,`or against a block ofy iron, orother metal; when a roller is used, it is made hollowing, or concave,onits periphery and is so-adjusted as to force the back of the book toassume the desired conveX form, leaving it perfectly straight from endto end, and giving to it an equal convexity in all its parts. When,instead of the concave roller above named, I use a block of iron, or ofother metal, which is made to occupy the place of the roller, saidblock'has that side of it which is toward the back of the book madeconcave, or hol` lowing, lengthwise, and the back of the book as itpasses along being made to press against this block, receives thedesired form.; this latter manner of forming the instrument possessessome advantages over the roller, and will,probably, be generallypreferred.

In the accompanying drawings, which show the machine of half the size ofone suitable for octavos, Figure l, is a side elevation of it; Fig. 2, atop view thereof, and Fig. 3, a'vertical cross section of it, in theline m, of Fig. 1.

Von its under side, `into which the teeth, B

A, A, are what I call the backing irons, which consist of two jaws ofiron that are to receive the book between them, and are to hold it, asin the jaws of a vise. The lowermcst of these jaws, A, has rack teeth ofa pinion, F ig. 3, engage, so as to move the jaws and book back andforth. This pinion is on the shaft, C, of a cog wheel, D, that is drivenbya pinion E, by means of the wrench, F. The two jaws of thebackingirons are hinged together at their rear end, but the hinge jointis attached to a sliding pin that allows the jaws to be placed at any`desired distan-ce apart, while they preserve their parallelism to eachother, by which they are `,allowed to take in books of differentthicknesses. rI`he vred lines, shown in the section, Fig. 3, represent abook between the backing irons. The rack teeth on the jaw A, with thepinion B, working into them are shown by dotted lines in Fig. l; as isalso the manner of hinging the jaws together by the sliding pin c, c.V

G, is the backing roller which revolves on gudgeons in a frame, or box,ai, a, that is received within a box, or frame, a', a', and may beremoved at pleasure, so as to change the roller, or block. `The box, a,Iand that in which contains it are shown in Fig. 5, which is a back viewof them.

Fig. 4, represents the metal block which may be used instead of theroller; of these rollers, or blocks, there may be three or four ofdifferent sizes, to each machine, which will suliice for books of nearlyall thicknesses; as a roller, or block, of about an inch thick willanswer for the thinnest book, or for one nearly an inch in thickness.

H, is a gage piece to regulate the distance that the back of the bookshall project from the jaws, and enables the operator to place itaccurately; this gage piece is held in place by a set screw, 5,' aspiral spring, c, may be placed between the jaws at each of their ends,to hold them apart.

I, I, are two rollers that revolve on a shaft l?, P, and press upon theupper jaw, A, and hold it down as the backing is effected. These rolersare contained in a sliding frame, J, J, that may be raised, or loweredby means of a'screw, K. To this rame is also attached a roller, L, thatbears against the outer edge of the upper jaw, A and another roller, L,pressing, in

like manner, against the lower jaw, so as to bear the book up againstthe roller, or block, by which it is to be backed; these rollers revolveon bolts, or gudgeons g, g. The place of the backing roller, or block,must be changed, to adapt it to the thickness of the book that is to beoperated on, and this'y may be done by meansv of a set screw, CZ, Fig.3, which confines the case, 0.', af, at the height at which it may beplaced.

Wvhen a book is to be backed, were its end brought up directly againstthe backing roller, it would be unduly pressed down and bruised, and toVprevent this, the roller is removed back until the end of the book,which would first come into contact with it, has passed beyond itscenter, and this withdrawing of the roller I effect in the followingmanner.

M, is an iron plate, or flat lever, which works on a joint pin at e, andhas a spring, N, bearing against its back; to this plate is attached anarm, O, that is to press against, and to be acted upon by, the aws, A.The short end of the Hat lever, M, bears against the roller boX, a, a,or against the block used instead thereof, and forces it forward by theaction of the jaws on the arm, O; in the position in which this arm isrepresented in the drawing, the backing roller, or block, would beforced up, by the lever M, against the book, the jaws having advancedsufiiciently far for that purpose; but if the jaws were less advanced,the arm, O, might be in the position shown by the dotted lines (j, andthe backing roller would then be withdrawn from the back of the book,but would be brought up against it when the jaws, by

advancing, acted against the piece P, at the end of the arm O. rIhepiece P, is capable of sliding freely back and forth on the arm, O, andas the jaws travel backward, the friction of the piece P, against theiredge, causes it to slide inward upon the arm, and the roller, which hadbeen withdrawn from the end of the book, as above stated, is,consequently, kept in contact with its back, until it has operated uponsaid end, and the backing is thereby perfected.

Q, is a catch that may be made to bear upon the fore end of the upperjaw, A, serving to hold it down before it enters under the rollers I, I;it is attached to a sliding piece S, in the end of the jaw, and it isdrawn back, so as to disengage it, by the hooked piece, R, coming intoContact with the bed of the machine when the jaws are fully retracted,there being a mortise through the jaw to allow the sliding piece to`move back and forth.

Having thus fully described the nature and construction of my machinevfor backing books in the process of binding, what I claim therein asnew, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The manner herein described of causing the backs of such books to becarried along against a fluted roller, or a block of metal, while theyare confined between the jaws of what I have herein denominated thebacking irons, the respective parts of said machine being arranged andoperating substantially as herein fully made known.

WILLIAM LAIGHTON.

Witnesses:

Trios. P. JONES, WILLIAM RIDER.

